Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-03-31

been required to work the porphyry in
this manner. Ohsidian Is q volcanic
product largely used by the ancient
Mcxicans and Peruvians for arms and
cutting instruments. 1t is found in its
natural state nowhere nearer the Mis-
sissippi valley than the Mexican noun
tains of Cerro Gordo.
There appears to be evidence that
the Mound Builders had the art OF
spinning and weaving. for cloth has
been found among their remains.
Schoolcraft gives this account of dis
covery made in West Virginia: sin
the course of excavations made in 1872
in the easternmost of the three mounds
of the Elizabeth group, several tubes OF
stone were disclosed, the precise object
of which has been the subject of vari-
GUS opinions. The longest measured
twelve inches, the shortest eight.
Three of them were carved out OF
stcatitc, being skillfully cut and pol
ishcd. The diameter of the tube ex-
ternally was one inch and four-tenths;
the bore. eight-tenths of an inch. This
caliber was continued till within three
eighths of an inch of the sight end,
when it diminishes to two-tenths of an
inch. By placing the eye at the dimin-
ished end, the extraneous light is shut
from the pupil, and distant objects are
more clearly .discerned. An ancient
Peruvian relic. found few years ago,
shows the figure of Il man wrought in
silver, in the act of studying the
heavens through such n tube. Similar
tubes have been found among relics of
the Mound Builders in Ohio and else
where. In Mexico, Captain Dupaix
saw sculptured on peculiar stone
structure the figure of man making
use of one. Astronomical devices were
sculptured below the figure. This
structure he supposed to have been
used for observation of the stars.
That the Mound-Builders and their
works belong to "a distant period in the
past is evident; but we have no means
of determining their antiquity with
any approach to accuracy. Great an
tiquity is indicated by skeletons taken
from the mounds. Every skeleton of
II Mound-Builder is found in a condi-
ton of extreme decay. Not moe than
one or two skeletons of hat people
have been recovered in a suitable con.
ditiOn for intelligent examination; yet
all the circumstances attending their
burial were unusually favorable for
their preservation. The Mound-Build-
ers are supposed to have been sun
worshipers. like the Mexicans and
Peruvians, as the dirks dug from their
mounds appear to have been designed
as representatives of the sun and moon.
The Natchez Indians found settled on
the Lower Mississippi may have been a
degenerate remnant of the Mound
Builders. They differed in language,
customs and condition from all other
Indians i'll the country; and their own
connected them with Mexico.
Like the MexicanS they had temples
OF sacred buildings in which the ''per-
petual fire" was maintained. Each |
of their villages was furnished |
with sacred building Of this kind.
They were sun-worshipe:s and claimed
that their chief derived his descent
from the sun. The Natchez were ex-
in 1880 by the French, whom
they had treated with great kindness.
Of the few who escaped death. some
were received among the Chickasaws
and MuskOgees, but more were sent tc |
Santo Domingo and sold as slaves.
No view that can be taken OF the relics
left by the Mound-Builders will permit |
us to believe that their stay in the
country was short Any hypothesis
based on the shortest possible estimate |
Of the time must count the yearB by |
centuries. Toledo Blade. |